SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea carried out a powerful underground nuclear test Monday — much larger than one conducted in 2006 — in a major provocation in the escalating international standoff over its rogue nuclear and missile programs.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said North Korea also test-fired a total of three short-range missiles after announcing the atomic test. The first liftoff, widely believed to be a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology, drew censure from the U.N. Security Council.

Pyongyang announced the test, and Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed an atomic explosion at 9:54 a.m. (0054 GMT) in northeastern North Korea, estimating the blast's yield at 10 to 20 kilotons — comparable to the bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

North Korea, incensed by the condemnation of the April 5 rocket launch, had warned last month that it would restart it rogue nuclear program, conduct an atomic test and carry out long-range missile tests.

On Monday, the country's official Korean Central News Agency said the regime "successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense."

The regime also test-fired a short-range, ground-to-air missile Monday from the same northeastern site where it launched a rocket last month, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.

Hours later, it test-fired two more short-range missiles, according to the South Korean news agency.

Yonhap did not provide further details and did not name its source.

South Korea's military declined to confirm the reports, saying it does not comment on intelligence matters.

'Blatant defiance'
U.S. President Barack Obama said a nuclear test would constitute an act of "blatant defiance" of the U.N. Security Council and a violation of international law, and would only further isolate North Korea.

North Korea's claims "are a matter of grave concern to all nations," he said, calling for international action in a statement from Washington. "North Korea's attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security."

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said the U.N. Security Council will meet at 4:30 p.m. Monday in New York (2030 GMT).

"If North Korea carried out a nuclear test, it would clearly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions," chief government spokesman Takeo Kawamura told reporters in Tokyo. "We will definitely not tolerate it."

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called the test "a provocation that can never be tolerated," his spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.

"The nuclear test is a serious threat to peace and security on the Korean peninsula, in Northeast Asia and in the world," the presidential office said in a statement.

South Korea, meanwhile, was grappling with the suicide two days earlier of Lee's liberal predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, whose death prompted condolences from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Kim held a 2007 summit in Pyongyang with Roh, who championed reconciliation with North Korea.

Kilju, in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, is where North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006 in a surprise move that angered even traditional ally China and drew wide-ranging sanctions from the Security Council.

An emergency siren sounded in the Chinese border city of Yanji, 130 miles (200 kilometers) to the northwest. A receptionist at Yanji's International Hotel said she and several hotel guests felt the ground tremble.

North Korea boasted that Monday's test was conducted "on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control" than in 2006.

Ten to 20 kilotons would be many times more than North Korea managed in 2006. U.S. intelligence officials said the 2006 test measured less than a kiloton; one kiloton is equal to the force produced by 1,000 tons of TNT.

Russia checks radiation levels
Radiation levels in Russia's Primorye region, which shares a short border with North Korea, were normal several hours after the blast, the state meteorological office said.

In Vladivostok, a city of 500,000 about 85 miles (140 kilometers) from the Russian-North Korean border, translator Alexei Sergeyev said he wasn't concerned about the test and doesn't fear North Korea.

"Their nuclear program does not have military aims — their only aim is to frighten the U.S. and receive more humanitarian aid as a result," said Sergeyev, 24.

The reported test-fire of the short-range missile took place at the Musudan-ri launchpad on North Korea's northeast coast, Yonhap said. Sources described it as a ground-to-air missile with a range of 80 miles (130 kilometers).

Japan's coast guard had said Friday that North Korea warned ships to steer clear of waters off the coast near the launch site, suggesting Pyongyang was preparing for a missile test. Yonhap also had reported brisk activity along the northeast coast last week.

South Korean troops were on high alert but there was no sign North Korean soldiers were massing along the heavily fortified border dividing the two nations, according to an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters in Seoul. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing agency policy.

Two Koreas technically at war
The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953. Tensions have been high since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul in February 2008 saying Pyongyang must fulfill its promises to dismantle its nuclear program before it can expect aid.

North Korea is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least a half-dozen atomic bombs. However, experts say scientists have not yet mastered the miniaturization needed to mount a nuclear device onto a long-range missile.

The 2006 test prompted North Korea's neighbors and the U.S. to push for a pact that would give Pyongyang 1 million tons of fuel oil in exchange for disabling its nuclear facilities.

North Korea signed the accord in February 2007 and began disabling its main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon that November. Pyongyang destroyed the Yongbyon cooling tower in June 2008 in dramatic show of its commitment to the process, but then abruptly halted the process weeks later over a dispute with Washington over how to verify its 18,000-page list of past atomic activities.

Talks hosted by Beijing in December failed to resolve the impasse, and North Korea abandoned the six-nation negotiations last month in anger over the U.N. condemnation of its rocket launch.

North Korea claims it launched the rocket to send a satellite into space; South Korea, Japan and other nations saw it as a way to test the technology used to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile, one capable of reaching the U.S.

The Security Council called the launch a violation of 2006 resolutions barring the regime from ballistic missile-related activity.

Crisco

05-25-2009, 06:55 PM

I have a feeling the special forces will be paying a visit to some of their missile sites soon enough. We won't risk open war at this point in time but don't doubt we won't use some kind of force.

Tyburn

05-25-2009, 08:34 PM

:blink: What are they playing at :huh:

I hate North Korea :angry:

Hughes_GOAT

05-25-2009, 09:14 PM

:blink: What are they playing at :huh:

I hate North Korea :angry:
strike them down with all your hatred. only then, will your journey to The Dark Side be complete.

Tyburn

05-25-2009, 09:16 PM

strike them down with all your hatred. only then, will your journey to The Dark Side be complete.
:laugh: my Dark side probably makes yours look like Noon :laugh:

I have a feeling the special forces will be paying a visit to some of their missile sites soon enough. We won't risk open war at this point in time but don't doubt we won't use some kind of force.

yea If they do do anything stupid to SKorea Japan russia or the US all hell will rain down on them. I could see russia and Japan doing something russia becuse of radiation(I highly doubt it) and japan because of well Its not to safe to have rockets flying over your country(I realy do expect for Japan to react before any one).

rearnakedchoke

05-25-2009, 10:39 PM

not a big deal ... it's not like other countries don't have these capabilities, so why worry about this guy .....

americans invented the bomb, we should be the first ones to expect others to experiment with this power as well. it is only human nature. countries have been toying with the bomb since it was invented and will keep toying with the bomb until the human race is extinct. it's like pringles, once you pop, you can't stop.

J.B.

05-26-2009, 01:32 AM

americans invented the bomb, we should be the first ones to expect others to experiment with this power as well. it is only human nature. countries have been toying with the bomb since it was invented and will keep toying with the bomb until the human race is extinct. it's like pringles, once you pop, you can't stop.

That is true, but America is the only country to ever actually use the bomb, and that alone puts us in a unique position. We understand how devastating nuclear weapons can be, and we can't allow nutjob dictators like Kim Jong Ill to posses them.

Hughes_GOAT

05-26-2009, 02:33 AM

If I had to guess, I would say Satan is more of a Jethro Tull fan.
enough of Jethro.....he hasn't sold his soul yet.it's all about "From Lucipher's Breath I'm born!!!"

J.B.

05-26-2009, 02:52 AM

enough of Jethro.....he hasn't sold his soul yet.it's all about "From Lucipher's Breath I'm born!!!"

:laugh:

I was convinced that selling their souls was the only way they ever got a Grammy for best Metal performance.

VCURamFan

05-26-2009, 04:27 AM

americans invented the bomb, we should be the first ones to expect others to experiment with this power as well. it is only human nature. countries have been toying with the bomb since it was invented and will keep toying with the bomb until the human race is extinct. it's like pringles, once you pop, you can't stop.Atomic Bomb=Pringles:laugh:

Hughes_GOAT

05-26-2009, 05:13 AM

:laugh:

I was convinced that selling their souls was the only way they ever got a Grammy for best Metal performance.
:laugh:

NateR

05-26-2009, 06:34 AM

That is true, but America is the only country to ever actually use the bomb, and that alone puts us in a unique position. We understand how devastating nuclear weapons can be, and we can't allow nutjob dictators like Kim Jong Ill to posses them.

I think Japan has a pretty good idea of their destructive capabilities too. :laugh:

But I do agree with you.

People seem to forget the circumstances that surrounded the creation of the Atom Bomb. There was this little thing called World War 2 going on at the time. Nothing major, it just took the lives of about a billion people across the planet.

Also, military leaders were estimating over a million US casualties just getting a foothold on the Japanese mainland. Who knows how many more to hold that ground and advance towards Tokyo? The A-bombs were necessary to put an end to that war.

We were definitely justified in what we did and we are justified in forbidding nations, with no concept of freedom or respect for human rights, from experimenting with that same technology.

Anyways, this whole thing just proves how pointless and stupid the UN really is. Sometimes I wish America WAS this tyrannical, imperialist nation that the liberal idiots claim we are. Someone needs to destroy the worthless UN and show some actual leadership in this world.

J.B.

05-26-2009, 06:38 AM

I think Japan has a pretty good idea of their destructive capabilities too. :laugh:

Yeah, I think thats pretty safe to say :laugh:

Tyburn

05-26-2009, 01:17 PM

americans invented the bomb, we should be the first ones to expect others to experiment with this power as well. it is only human nature. countries have been toying with the bomb since it was invented and will keep toying with the bomb until the human race is extinct. it's like pringles, once you pop, you can't stop.
Not exactly. Europeans developed Nuclear bombs. Those Europeans were actually German if I remember rightly, Germans who defected to the Allied forces half way through the war.

If they had not have done that, Nazi Germany would have come into natural posession of it.

Americans are the only Country who have used it in warfare though, it did have the backing of the Allied Forces, so it wasnt a unilateral move or anything.

These Countries I think are of two kinds, those who want the technology to use it, like Iran...and those who want to have the technology for status and to make ransom demands. Thats where Korea comes in. I doubt they would use the bomb, even on the South...but with the technology they can ask how what the west will give them to appease them. :ninja:

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea launched tests Tuesday of two more short-range missiles a day after detonating a nuclear bomb underground, a news report said, pushing the regime's confrontation with world powers further despite the threat of U.N. Security Council action.

Two missiles — one ground-to-air, the other ground-to-ship — with a range of about 80 miles (130 kilometers) were test-fired from an east coast launch pad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed government official.

South Korean spy chief Won Sei-hoon had informed lawmakers earlier Tuesday that a missile test was likely, according to the office of Park Young-sun, a legislator who attended the closed-door briefing.

Yonhap reported that North Korea was preparing to launch a third missile from a west coast site, again citing an unnamed official.

North Korea appeared to be displaying its might a day after conducting an underground atomic test in the northeast that the U.N. Security Council condemned as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program.

France called for new sanctions, while the U.S. and Japan pushed for strong action against North Korea for testing a bomb that Russian officials said was comparable in power to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

South Korea, meanwhile, announced it would join a maritime web of more than 90 nations that intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction — a move North Korea warned would constitute an act of war.

North Korea had threatened in recent weeks to carry out a nuclear test and fire long-range missiles unless the Security Council apologized for condemning Pyongyang's April 5 launch of a rocket the U.S., Japan and other nations called a test of its long-range missile technology. The North has said it put a satellite into orbit as part of its peaceful space development program.

World caught by surprise?
Monday morning's nuclear test appeared to catch the world by surprise, but Won told lawmakers that Beijing and Washington knew Pyongyang was planning a test some 20-25 minutes before it was carried out, said Choi Kyu-ha, an aide to lawmaker Park.

Won said Pyongyang warned it would test the bomb unless the head of the Security Council offered an immediate apology. Russia said the test went off at 9:54 a.m. local time (0054 GMT) Monday. Won confirmed that two short-range missile tests from an east coast launch pad followed.

Yonhap reported that three missile tests were carried out Monday, and two more Tuesday.

North Korea's neighbors and their allies scrambled to galvanize support for strong, united response to Pyongyang's nuclear belligerence.

President Barack Obama and South Korea's Lee Myung-bak "agreed that the test was a reckless violation of international law that compels action in response," the White House said in a statement after the leaders spoke by telephone. They also vowed to "seek and support a strong United Nations Security Council resolution with concrete measures to curtail North Korea's nuclear and missile activities."

Obama also spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, the White House said, with the leaders agreeing to step up coordination with South Korea, China and Russia.

Obama reiterated the U.S. commitment to defend both South Korean and Japan, U.S. and South Korean officials said.

North says ready to defeat U.S. invasion
North Korea responded by accusing the U.S. of hostility, and said Tuesday that its army and people were ready to defeat any American invasion.

"The current U.S. administration is following in the footsteps of the previous Bush administration's reckless policy of militarily stifling North Korea," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in commentary carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

In Japan, which suffered the devastation of two atomic bombs in 1945, the lower house of parliament quickly passed an unanimous resolution condemning the test and demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear program, a house spokeswoman said.

"This reckless act, along with the previous missile launch, threatened peace and stability in the region, including Japan," the resolution said.

Russia, which called the test a "serious blow" to the effort to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, suspended a Russia-North Korean intergovernmental trade and economic commission, apparently in response to the nuclear test. The slap on the wrist was a telling indication that Moscow, once a key backer of North Korea, was unhappy with Pyongyang.

North Korea for years has warned the South against joining the U.S.-led blockade. The Rodong Sinmun last week said South Korea's participation would be "nothing but a gambit to conceal their belligerence and justify a new northward invasion scheme."

Joining the PSI would end in Seoul's "self-destruction" it said.

In Beijing, the defense chiefs of South Korea and China were holding a security meeting Tuesday, South Korean officials said.

South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee and China's Gen. Liang Guanglie were expected to discuss ways to respond to the nuclear test, Cho Baek-sang, international policy director at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

China said Monday it "resolutely opposed" North Korea's test and called on Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its atomic programs.